Know your rights in migrant workers languages

 

Whilst migrant workers are protected by the same laws that protect other workers in the UK and should receive equal pay to British workers doing the same work the problem is that many don’t know their rights. As they are also often invisible from other workers then this makes it easier for them to be exploited.

Seeking to organise workers of all nationalities, UNITEtheUnion across Ireland, North and South has thus produced a series of Know Your Rights leaflets in 12 community languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Tetum.

The leaflets point out that workers ‘are entitled to the following statutory rights and protections from the day you start work. It does not matter how many hours you work.’ They arose following the exposure of chronic mistreatment in the meat industry with some workers involved in packing up to 20,000 chicken breasts a day.

They explain rights on:-

Ø Equal pay / equal value

Ø Sex discrimination / harassment

Ø Discrimination on the grounds of religion / belief

Ø Age discrimination

Ø Racial discrimination / harassment

Ø Disability discrimination / harassment

Ø Victimisation for trade union membership / activity

Ø Victimisation for Health & Safety activity

Ø Itemised pay statement

Ø Unlawful deduction from wages

Ø Dismissal because of pregnancy

Ø Written reasons for dismissal during pregnancy / maternity leave

Ø Time off for ante-natal visits

Ø 52 weeks’ maternity leave for all women

Ø Sunday working rights

Ø Dismissal / victimisation for enforcing a statutory right

Ø National Minimum Wage

Ø Time off for holiday and breaks

Ø Dismissal / victimisation for whistleblowing

Ø Time off for family emergencies

The information is not intended to be exhaustive and, of course, in situations where there is union organisation then workers should check with their Unite rep, official or organiser, if something isn’t covered in the leaflet.

A recent report shows how distributing such information everywhere is vital.

 “Debt. Migration and Exploitation”, examines the recruitment practices and working conditions of seasonal fruit and veg pickers employed under the government’s Seasonal Worker Scheme. (SWS) (which this magazine has covered on many previous occasions)

Some Nepalese workers have been pressurised into paying extortionate, illegal broker fees of around £4,300 to third-party recruitment agencies in their home countries to secure a visa.

The report provides a breakdown of the work process for a fruit picker, and shows how workers endured debt bondage, long hours, abuse by supervisors, and systematic wage theft. Meanwhile, the government has yet, despite its promises to do so, undertaken a full review of the SWS in the agricultural sector in this decade. Little wonder then that a number of NGOs have written to the Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick MP asking him to act.

Now with the passing of the Illegal Migration Bill it is going to be even easier for employers to exploit migrant workers with the research and policy organisation FLEX (Focus on Labour Exploitation) stating: ‘The Bill is devastating and will have far reaching consequences for people both directly and indirectly affected. It will drive large numbers of people underground, creating fear of authorities and public services. People in exploitation will fear seeking help. The Bill has been described as a ‘Traffickers Charter’ as it provides traffickers with the ultimate coercion tool.’

To download the Unite leaflets go to:- https://unitetheunionireland.org/know-your-rights/

Read “Debt. Migration and Exploitation”

https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/LWA-Debt-Migration-and-Exploitation-2023.pdf